Tommy Sands – Fair Play to You All
Spring Records – Out Now
If you were to rhyme off the most important figures in folk music over the years, you’d expect the usual names, Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, the Clancy Brothers, the Dubliners, Pete Seeger to name a few. One name that may be forgotten by the average layperson could well make near the top of each one the aforementioned superstars’ personal lists. His name is Tommy Sands, and through his song and stories, he has been an integral part of folk music of Ireland and the world for many years.
Most artists use music to help achieve balance in life, through writing, performing or both. Tommy goes so much deeper, using his craft not only as a medium to communicate with his own ilk but as a way for people from different communities, backgrounds, classes, nationalities to appreciate a better understanding of each other. I really don’t think it would be an exaggeration to state that Tommy’s commitment to spreading a message of peace had a serious impact in helping bring a cease to violence in Northern Ireland, and a continued peace since.
His most powerful message was in his 1985 song ‘There were Roses’. The power of folk music is that it is music of the folk, of the people. The chances are that no one would have batted an eyelid if Tommy, born a Catholic, had taken a one-sided view in recounting the story of the sectarian murder of two men he knew, both from different sides of the fence. Instead, he showed empathy for the hurt felt in both communities, and that be it a Protestant or a Catholic death, both would be in vain. The message resonated throughout Northern Ireland, and since then, the world. I’ve heard that has been actually used as an exam piece for music students in China!
One side note, it actually scares me when funding to the Arts is normally the first thing to get cut. In a divided society, politicians can preach what they think leads to a better society, the news may show horror inflicted on others, but the right song can reach inside and guide a person through right and wrong, and show them how they can make a difference.
But to the album. It’s called ‘Fair Play to you All’ and I’ll begin by saying that while at this stage of Tommy’s career, I would forgive him for being allowed to go through the motions, he has in fact raised the bar to an extent, that as a collection of songs, it’s the finest solo album of his career.
The Answer is not Blowing in the Wind jumps out of the speakers like a greyhound from the traps. Immediately I notice the familiar sounds of producer Steve Cooney, especially in his characteristic bass playing that I first loved on a Séamus Begley & Cooney album many years back. With a clever take on Bob Dylan’s classic, perhaps in frustration that Bob’s message was a little vague for most, Tommy makes it as simple as possible. “The answer stares you in the eyes…”
Clanrye Side is a song I heard recently on Lynette Fay’s Folk Club on BBC Radio Ulster and it sat me fixed to the car seat long after I’d arrived at my destination. It’s epic. I regard a good radio folk program as the place where I can truly expect and experience real excitement and variety in music, but this song sounded like nothing I’d quite heard before. With the deep ‘in your face’ Leonard Cohen type vocal and with so much happening in it, I’m really going to have to revisit it so many times before I get down to the nitty-gritty of everything that is happening here. One thing I will say, I think as far as this genre goes, this is my song of 2019.
Ballyholland sends the album in a more traditional direction. But with that pulsing Cooney rhythm underlying, it sounds fresh! An isolated hilltop village in Co. Down, but you’d be forgiven for thinking you’ve just driven into Donegal. Tommy is a master of picking out those little local quirks that we take for granted until we hear them in song. Like the fact that in many townlands in Ireland with different families of the same surname, the family is granted a nic name that follows them for generations. In Ballyholland the most common name by far is McAteer. If your grandfather was a butcher, then there’s a very good chance that you’d be known as from ‘The Butcher McAteers’.
There are few that can nail a chorus like Tommy Sands. Short, poignant, reflective and catchy as hell. Refugees is lovely, and I’ll probably be singing it for days. No bad thing… It’s the same in the next track What’s Going on in Jerusalem? This what Tommy does it in a genius way. He once said to me that one of the problems we have here in the north is that there is a serious lack in a higher quality of disagreement. He uses incredibly crafted hooky melodies to draw you into the song, and even if you disagree with what he’s saying, it may happen that you start questioning yourself and your opinions. Oh, and the performance on violin from Lisa Gutkin sets the mood beautifully.
‘Fair Play to you All’ isn’t happy settling in one or two places. Tommy wants to put the world to right, and fair play to him for trying. In a time where making America great again may have taken on one meaning, Tommy points American Dreams toward a country’s’ values that if concentrated on, may actually make the place one that Americans could be proud of. And speaking of America, Who Killed JFK? may not definitely answer a question that has been asked for generations. In fact, it probably raises even more questions around the mystery that will be pondered on for some time.
Getting us wound up around the worries of the world, thank goodness for Caoineadh Mhacha, a lamentation to bring us back to earth, centres us. Sometimes you have to stop, and as I reflect I realise that this piece brings home the originality of this album. It’s such a wonderful piece of work. But as blood pressure falls, so must it rise. In a day where a vote in parliament begins the nailing of the Brexit coffin, Ode to Europe feels slightly fruitful. But actually, it’s proper that it is still heard. It’s a thank you to Europe for trying to do its best for us all these years, even if its efforts went unseen by many.
Paddy & the Judge, one of the most upbeat songs of the second half of the album, is Tommy up to his old tricks again. Subtle hints of mistreatment and unfairness shrouded in humour and colour. Class stuff. Every County on the Island is a great tribute to a wonderful country. I think he got every county in there, but I’ll double-check and get back to you on that…
Gathering of the Clans is an anthem to finish off proceedings. An album of exploration of different cultures and emigrants, ends with a welcome calling home to them all. The final Beatlesesque chord before the bagpipes take us home symbolises perfectly the array of influences shared to us through Tommy in this incredible work.
The beautiful thing about this album is that you experience not only Tommy but the Sands Family legacy, with brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, nephews and nieces as well as respected musicians and friends, all happy to give their talents at Tommy’s beck and call.
With an album almost as charming as himself, Septuagenarian Tommy Sands has made his Sargent Pepper, his Pet Sounds, an album that smashes down the boundaries of traditional Irish Folk music and embraces every culture that exists in Ireland today, and them some! If your argument is that as human beings, we are better when we are united than apart, then Tommy leads by example. A stunning album. Fair play to you Tommy, fair play.
Order Fair Play To You All via https://www.tommysands.com/product/fair-play-to-you-all/
